Goddess of the Galacticide Episode 23 - No Next

Episode 23

The hull of the old alien vessel had been breached long before they did.

Linuka waded through loose soil. Dust covered every surface, including the ceiling. The dried-out mud hole she stood in was the control room of the Võmémééř spaceship, or had been 1,200 orbits ago.

It was hard to stay optimistic and assume they were just one dilapidated room away from their grand prize. A tiny diin, protected and preserved in some Võmémééř super tech stasis chamber. Believing the age of this relic could be explained by the convoluted front lines across space, time, and realities. Trusting it somehow all made sense, and they just hadn’t looked close enough.

But ever since the strip beam fired once more, cutting through the hull with the same ease it could tear a continent off a planet, their group had to dig through the rubble of dead plant matter which invaded the interior through some hull leak long ago. This ship was so dead, even the local hyper-flora had given up on it.

The Remnants had not lost their motivation; it seemed. They landed three more cores to assist with the slow dig, bringing cutting tools and oversized suction pumps, clearing the way, uncovering their equivalent of the Wel Edge Gold Rush: a bizarre array of small Võmémééř items. Some looked artistic, ritualistic; all form, not function. Others had clear features of devices. Impossible to tell if they were mundane remote controls for the ceiling lights, or held technological secrets able to propel the people of the Akaa Upsa galaxy into a new age.

Cha Dzeeny entered the control room. “Shaajis?”

Linuka could tell he was tired and in pain. I can feel it.

“It’s not here,” she said. “It’s just some old shuttle of some unlucky Dark Ones who crashed here and turned into dust.”

Cha’s helmet light swiveled around, as if looking for something to brighten Linuka’s mood. “We don’t know yet, Shaajis. If this was an expedition, as we assume, maybe their on-board systems contain other candidate worlds to breed these diin.”

Linuka’s facial muscles tried to fake a smile, but let her down. “Commander. You’re supposed to be the skeptic. Please leave the unfounded optimism to me.”

Cha chuckled. “Yes, Shaajis.”

“I’m tired. Let’s go back to the Hikshuur and rest for a shift,” said Linuka. “And you should give that leg some rest.”

“How do you know about my leg, Shaajis?”

“I don’t know, maybe I caught you with a slight limp. It hurts, doesn’t it?”

“It does, but my tolerance is high. I thought I hid it well.”

“There is not much privacy in the dustbin, Commander.”

“I guess not,” said Cha. “Well, it was that cursed dust infecting the wound in the first place.”

The wound? thought Linuka. She remembered his leg getting pierced during skipper Oonzu’s crazy maneuvers. That had been 150 spins ago. Had the wound festered since?

“Boss,” said one marine, joining their helmet comm. He waved from the corridor leading to the control room. “I brought the second wave, ready to help with the looting.”

“You mean with the excavation, Line Marine?”

“Of course, boss.”

“Get to work then. Yots. Kso. Report to the presumed control room. We’re escorting the Shaajis back to the freighter.”

***

The improvised living quarters the marines called the dustbin appeared like a clean-room compared to the abandoned Võmémééř vessel. Oonzu was still out there, toiling with the Dark AI, securing his share of the spoils. After the decontamination procedure, Linuka debated if her own skin deserved the same pressure cleaning their spacesuits enjoyed before passing the airlock interior.

Feeling clean and refreshed was appealing, but her bunk promised immediate relaxation.

“We need to talk about next steps, Shaajis.”

Zuj shiiv Commander, thought Linuka. No rest. Cha Dzeeny was right, though.

“Privates, go ahead. Get civilized.”

Yots and Kso left for the mobile shower units, the most prized equipment acquisitions right after the relief comps.

“Gives us a few passes to talk freely while the water is running. Shaajis, if you are right, and there is no diin on board that shuttle, where does that leave us?”

Straight to the point, thought Linuka. “Assuming the Remnants are happy with their loot?”

“I think they are, Shaajis. There was a lot of equipment left behind.”

“Why is that, you think?”

“Maybe the crew left in a hurry? So far, the Remnant scanners did not detect any Dark Ones corpses, neither skeletons nor husks nor whatever they leave behind, nor decomposed body parts.”

“Strange. Where would they have gone?”

“These people had an enormous fleet before we blew it up. If this ship crashed indeed, others could have picked up the crew, either survivors or the dropouts.”

Their dead, thought Linuka. Like the Marines, Cha assumed the extra-galactics would leave no one behind.

“You’re probably right, Commander. I didn’t answer your question, though. Where does all this leave us? It leaves us a vast intergalactic void away from our target, the last diin.”

“There could be other worlds in Akaa Upsa.”

“Tswa sni sni was adamant this being the only plausible location in our galaxy.”

“And we trust her judgment?”

“She is the foremost authority on Võmémééř biology. She probably knows more about this diin than it knows itself.”

Cha’s face didn’t give any clue to his thought process, but she could hear his poise draining out of his body.

“Then we’re finished,” he said. “Best we can hope is not having to fight the Remnants for returning us to Assembly space. Or wherever we need to go next.”

Linuka sat on the closest bunk. There was no ‘next’. Finding the last diin was the mission. Only knowing the seedling’s fate would ensure there was a ‘next’ for everyone.

“Makes me regret returning, Shaajis.”

“What do you mean?”

“Back when we got stranded in the Dark One’s galaxy. Maybe we should have split up, letting your father and the others, you know, important people, return. And we warriors should have stayed behind, searching Iika zhozkem for survivors.”

“Commander, a few dozen, searching an unmapped galaxy?” They wouldn’t have made a difference. But she understood the sentiment, the nagging feeling of not having done enough, all too well.

“I’m glad you returned.” She meant it.

“We returned…” said Cha Dzeeny “…with a sphere drive array.”

Linuka jumped to her feet. “Of course, you returned using a Võmémééř sphere drive! That drive system must still exist. Do you know where it is?”

“You want to hunt that diin down in its own galaxy?”

“Yes! And we have a decent chance of finding it there. Tswa sni sni knows every last suitable world where the breeding couple could have hidden it. So, do you know the sphere drive’s location or not?”

“Shaajis,” said Cha Dzeeny. “We’re not talking about some curious relic here like the ones our eager friends are collecting in the wreckage. The sphere drive array is a cruiser-sized space-going apparatus able to create darkstrings. Not use them, make them! Between two galaxies!”

He knows where it is, thought Linuka. But I’m not going to like it.

“The array is kept at one of the Levy Fleet rally points. At least a third of the galactic fleet is there at any time to guard it.”

Goddess of the Galacticide continues on this website with new episodes each Tuesday.

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